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Asma Khanam, 47, set up bogus charities to pay wages to Italian passport-holders

They have been convicted of serious offences and, in the male defendant's cases, they both face substantial sentences of imprisonment

Judge Nigel Peters, QC

Judge Nigel Peters, QC, said: "She has been convicted of being involved with her husband in a housing benefit fraud on a huge scale.

"They have been convicted of serious offences and, in the male defendant's cases, they both face substantial sentences of imprisonment."

Muyeed and Khanam set up the companies Families for Survival UK and Age Shelter UK Ltd.

Accomplice Habibur Rahman, 36, ran bogus businesses including Haiba Laiba Ltd and Crystal Jobs Ltd to run a similar con.

Prosecutor Mark Himsworth had told jurors the benefits office at London Borough of Redbridge became suspicious when they noticed large numbers of claims which were both well-prepared and well-evidenced and had unusual similarities.

'Operation Rhino' was then launched and it found 139 Italian-Bangladeshi claimants out of the initial 300 deemed suspicious had shared common addresses and workplaces.

The three crooks operated a system of circular payments where sums would be transferred through dummy organisations before being paid back as 'wages'.

Muyeed told the jury he had created dummy pay slips in the past but insisted this was only done for training purposes.

The accountant also confessed to having advised clients what benefits are available to European Economic Area migrants.

He was later presented with documents found by DWP investigators during a search of offices in Ilford.

Claiming the scam went on behind his back, he denied thinking he could "pull the wool over the jury's eyes" by designing "a system that was sophisticated enough to avoid detection".